Produced by Al Haines
OCTAVIA
The Octoroon
BY
J. F. LEE, M.D.
THE
Abbey Press
PUBLISHERS
114
FIFTH AVENUE
London NEW YORK Montreal
Copyright, 1900,
by
THE
Abbey Press
in
the
United States
and
Great Britain.
All Rights Reserved.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Prize Fight
CHAPTER II.
A Baptismal Scene
CHAPTER III.
The Birth of Octavia
CHAPTER IV.
Almost a Watery Grave
CHAPTER V.
The "Underground Railway"
CHAPTER VI.
Mistaken Identity and Escape from Bruin
CHAPTER VII.
Liberated
CHAPTER VIII.
Cotton Prowling--Employing Octavia's Governess
CHAPTER IX.
Progress in Studies
CHAPTER X.
Ready for College
CHAPTER XI.
In the Red Cross Service
CHAPTER XII.
In Foreign Lands--Strategy--Love Conquers
Octavia the Octoroon.
CHAPTER I.
THE PRIZE FIGHT.
Just before the beginning of the civil war between the States there was
a large and valuable plantation on the Alabama River on which there
were several hundred slaves, said farm being in what is known as the
"black belt of Alabama," having a river front of several miles, and
annually producing five hundred bales of cotton, fifteen thousand
bushels of corn, besides oats, wheat, hay, mules, horses, hogs, cattle,
sheep and goats in abundance.
This mammoth farm belonged to Hon. R., then a member of the United
States Congress from Alabama, and afterwards a gallant officer in the
Confederate army, rising from the rank of first lieutenant to colonel,
by which latter title he will be known in this story. He lived in what
was then one of the flourishing towns of the State, but which has long
since gone to ruin and decay. Colonel R.'s farm was managed by what
was then known as an "overseer," but now would be termed a
superintendent. He had assistants, white and black, who, with the
overseer, managed the farm in a systematic and scientific manner,
bringing it up to a high state of cultivation, which made it one of the
most productive and valuable in the State.
Colonel R., with his man in livery, a thousand-dollar carriage and
finely caparisoned span of horses, visited his farm once a month when
at home, to give general directions to his overseer, and receive the
annual proceeds of his cotton crop. This was the state of affairs when
Lincoln was elected President, when the Southern States seceded from
the Union, and when the guns at Fort Sumter belched forth their shot
and shell, ushering in a war that had no equal in ancient or modern
times.
When the call to arms was made Colonel R. resigned his seat in the
Federal Congress, hastened home, raised and equipped a company, which
rendered valuable service in the Southern army. Colonel R.'s overseer
and his white assistants also responded to the call, joining the
company which Colonel R. equipped. Thus was Colonel R.'s farm deprived
of white men, and as every able-bodied man was needed at the front, it
was out of the question to replace them; nor did he make any effort to
do so. However, Colonel R. was not wanting for some one to take charge
of his business; he had a quadroon named Simon, who had been carefully
trained and drilled by the overseer in farm management. He had been a
favorite with the overseer, who made no objection to his
fourteen-year-old son teaching him to read and write. He also taught
Simon's sister, Elsie. They were both bright quadroons, good looking,
and exceptionally intelligent for slaves.
Let me say here that if the planters had any inclination to teach their
slaves, the latter had no time but at night to learn, and after working
from the time they could see in the morning until they could not see at
night, they felt like sleeping when reaching their cabins. However,
here and there you would find a negro who could read and write, who
generally received such instruction from their owner's or overseer's
children.
Simon was twenty-five and Elsie eighteen years of age, both having the
same mother, Aunt Dinah, and the same white father.
After the overseer and his assistants left for the army Colonel R.
installed Simon as his foreman, with the authority of an overseer.
Under his administration farm matters moved along as well as they did
under the overseer. In slavery times there was always a negro head
man, leader and squire among the negroes, who performed their marriage
ceremonies (without license), exhorted at their religious meetings and
could sing and pray and be heard a mile. Simon could "out-Herod Herod"
in doing all this. He was faithful, honest and upright, three virtues
rare among negroes. He successfully kept the farm books, in which were
to be recorded the number of pounds of cotton picked per day; the
number and weight of each bale of cotton--in a word, this book gave the
exact production of the farm, whether it was stock, cotton, corn or
what not.
He was provided with a horse and whip, two concomitants that every
ante-bellum overseer possessed. Simon felt his importance, and
probably was too severe in some instances in using the lash on the
slaves. This, however, is characteristic of the negro, as they have
since freedom been known to almost whip their children to death. The
writer has interfered several times where negro parents were
unmercifully chastising their children.
Aunt Dinah, Simon's mother, was rather prepossessing in appearance, and
was the plantation mammy, nurse and midwife, as well as the keeper of
the orphan asylum for all the little pickaninnies on the plantation.
Every place of any size had this character. It is often and truly said
that it is the ambition of negro men to be preachers and of the women
to be midwives.
Simon had interceded with his master and the overseer to exempt Elsie
from farm work, and to appoint her seamstress, who had several
assistants on the farm. She was very apt with the needle and scissors,
cutting and making any garment she wished, and doing it all with the
needle, this being before the introduction of sewing machines on
plantations.
In the eyes of Simon and his mother Elsie was a piece of perfection, a
paragon of virtue and chastity, two possessions rare among negroes of
both sexes. Elsie was the belle of the plantation, having a large
number of suitors, among them two of Colonel R.'s slaves, Brutus and
Caesar.
They were rivals and had an intense hatred for each other on Elsie's
account. While Elsie had no idea of accepting either one or any negro,
saying that she did not want a "kinky-headed nigger," she encouraged
the attentions of both--a consummate flirt, to say the least. Brutus
and Caesar were good specimens of their race, and fairly good looking.
Their rivalry increased in intensity and bitterness until they
threatened each other's lives.
At this stage of their would-be courtship Simon interfered and told
them that, as Elsie was a prize worth contending for, they had to fight
a fair fight in the ring, and that he would bestow Elsie upon the
victor. The time was appointed for the contest, referees chosen, and
all the negroes on the plantation assembled to witness something _a la_
Corbett and Fitzsimmons. The battle was fierce, a battle royal; they
were contending for the heart and hand of the beautiful Elsie. Neither
was able to get the mastery over the other. Both could well say, "Lay
on, Macduff! and damned be him who first cries hold, enough!" At times
it looked as if Brutus would be victorious, at another, Caesar.
After they had pounded and bruised each other considerably, and both
being well nigh exhausted, the match was called off, and Simon
threatened each with a severe lashing if he heard of their fussing any
more about Elsie, as she would not marry either one of them. This
threat and declaration that Elsie would marry neither embittered the
combatants against Simon, both declaring _sotto voce_ that they would
get even with him yet; that they were as good as he was; that his head
was as "kinky" as theirs, and that while they were rivals and personal
enemies, they would make common cause against him and kill the bigoted
"nigger driver" if he "monkeyed with them."